CAMCA - The Times Of Central Asia

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CAMCA

Opinion: Building Bridges, Backing the Future: Why Entrepreneurs Must Connect Across Borders

In the age of AI, capital and code travel fast. Trust does not. That is why the most valuable infrastructure our region can build right now is human: entrepreneurs who know each other across borders. This week in Baku, at the CAMCA Forum 2026, two moments stayed with me. The first was a conversation on stage with investor Lucy Chow about what it means to back the future when artificial intelligence is rewriting the rules of business. The second happened a day earlier, quietly, at a signing table. The CAMCA network signed a Memorandum of Understanding with YEGAP, the Young Entrepreneurs Group of Asia Pacific. Mr. Hiromi Aoki travelled from Japan to be with us. The purpose is simple to state and hard to do: build a lasting bridge between the founders of Central Asia, Mongolia, the Caucasus and Afghanistan and their peers across Asia-Pacific. Those two moments are connected. The more powerful technology becomes, the more the advantage shifts to people who are connected to other people. What "backing the future" means now I opened our session by asking Lucy what "backing the future" means to her. We spent the next hour testing that phrase against the realities of AI: what is truly different about this wave, where the signal ends and the hype begins, and where entrepreneurs still have room when so much capital flows to a handful of AI giants. The answer that emerged was reassuring. AI changes the tools, the speed and the cost of building a company. It does not change what makes a company worth backing: a visionary founder, a real problem, a great solution, a customer who will pay to solve it, and a team that can execute and adapt. What AI does change is the bar. When anyone can build a prototype in a weekend, a prototype is no longer proof. The proof is distribution, domain knowledge and trust with customers. Those are exactly the things the world's largest AI labs cannot buy in Almaty, Tashkent, Ulaanbaatar or Baku. That is where the space for our entrepreneurs lies. Not in competing to build the biggest foundation models, but in applying AI to the industries we know better than anyone: agriculture and herding, logistics along new trade corridors, remittances and financial inclusion, energy, health, education and natural resources. The main focus should be to really focus on our uniqueness and take that to the world and showcase our local identity. Investors back people, and people are shaped by their networks When technology moves this fast, how do you judge a founder? The qualities we discussed are not new: resilience, curiosity, honesty about what is not working, and the speed to learn and change course. What is new is how quickly those qualities are tested. A founder today may need to rebuild a product three times in the time it once took to build it once. One quality matters more than it used to: the ability to learn from others. No founder can track...

CAMCA

Opinion: CAMCA: From Regional Connectivity to Cross-Border Innovation

What would it take for a fintech company that succeeds in one CAMCA country to enter another without starting from zero? That question guided a roundtable on the next digital Silk Road at the CAMCA Regional Forum in Baku. The discussion brought together leaders in financial services, investment, and technology from a region spanning Central Asia, the Caucasus, Mongolia, and Afghanistan. As moderator, I wanted to move beyond the broad ambition of regional connectivity and examine what companies need to operate across borders: working payment systems, partnerships, regulatory clarity, and a path to their first customer in a new market. The panel featured Tughra Musayeva, Head of Innovations at PASHA Financial Holding; Jenny Jenish kyzy, Product Owner at MBank Junior and a CAMCA Network member from Kyrgyzstan; Muna Shukurova, Managing Director of Alif in Uzbekistan and a CAMCA Network member from Tajikistan; and Jonathan Low, Founder and Group CEO of Ampyre Group and Biptap. A central theme was financial infrastructure. The speakers explored the potential for pilots using existing platforms to connect CAMCA markets, including cross-border payments, business settlements, digital wallets, and new settlement technologies. Such pilots would require regulators and private companies to work together on defined problems and learn from results. Mr. Low argued that the region has an opportunity to make deliberate choices about the systems it wants to build: “Most regions overregulate before they even know what they're building. CAMCA has an advantage here, it can watch Europe's and ASEAN’s fintech buildout and skip the mistakes instead of repeating them and learn what works. But that only works if you decide what you want first. Regulation should follow the vision, not replace it. And the tool that actually unifies a region this spread out is banking orchestration, new technology stitching fragmented markets into one functioning system.” Expansion also raises a practical question for companies already active in more than one market: which capabilities can travel, and which parts of a product must change? Requirements for licensing, identity checks, anti-money-laundering controls, infrastructure, and consumer behavior differ across countries. Ms Shukurova drew on Alif’s experience of entering other CAMCA markets: “Regional expansion is not a copy-paste exercise. You can replicate technology, risk expertise and operating capabilities, but the product still has to be built around local regulation, infrastructure and customer behavior. The core can travel; the market fit has to be local.” The panel then turned to the role of established financial groups. For a startup, a successful pilot can demonstrate that a solution works. It becomes more valuable when that result helps the company find a partner or customer in its next market. Corporate networks and regional investors can help make that step less costly. Ms Musayeva described the gap between proving a product and expanding it: “In our region, a startup does not scale simply because its technology is scalable. It scales when the ecosystem reduces the cost of entering the next market. Today, a founder who has proven a solution in Tashkent still arrives in...

CAMCA

At CAMCA, Uzbekistan Revives Push for a Stronger Regional Body

Uzbekistan has renewed its call for a stronger regional institution, with senior senator Sodiq Safoev urging Central Asian leaders to move beyond their consultative meeting format. His remarks in Baku return attention to a proposal President Shavkat Mirziyoyev outlined last November, when he called for a Community of Central Asia. Safoev, first deputy chairman of Uzbekistan’s Senate, told the CAMCA Regional Forum on October 1: “I think the time has come to transform the Consultative Meeting … into another institutional structure, not simply a Consultative Meeting, but something more.” S. Frederick Starr, chairman of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, also called for stronger regional institutions at the forum, arguing that institutional development needed to support the expansion of transport and commercial links across the region. At the November 16, 2025, summit in Tashkent, Mirziyoyev proposed a rotating secretariat and stronger rules governing the leaders’ meetings. He also proposed making national coordinators special presidential representatives, giving them greater political authority. The secretariat would coordinate work between summits. The machinery for regular cooperation is already developing. The Council of National Coordinators held its first meeting in Tashkent on January 30–31, 2025, where foreign ministry representatives from all five Central Asian states discussed preparations for Uzbekistan’s chairmanship and a schedule of joint events. Mirziyoyev returned to the institutional argument at the July 31 informal summit in Cholpon Ata, calling for closer contacts between government departments and long-term joint programs, alongside effective cooperation institutions. His agenda included further work on common digital services and investment platforms, as well as industrial links connecting production across national borders. He also urged stronger coordination in the Central Asia Plus diplomatic formats through which the region engages outside powers. Azerbaijan’s participation has widened the scope of those discussions. The five Central Asian presidents accepted Azerbaijan as a full participant in November 2025, extending the format across the Caspian. The six-country grouping, increasingly described as C6, connects Central Asian producers with a country whose ports and onward transport links provide access through the South Caucasus to European markets. At an August 12 discussion in Washington, Uzbekistan’s ambassador Furqat Sidiqov emphasized market access and called for further digitalization of the Middle Corridor. He said Uzbekistan had about 1,500 joint ventures with neighboring states, compared with close to 300 involving Central Asian countries in 2017. Turkmenistan’s ambassador, Esen Aydogdyyev, stressed simpler customs procedures and argued that his country’s permanent neutrality was compatible with deeper economic cooperation. The commercial ambition also extends to joint production. In Baku, Azerbaijan’s minister of the economy Mikayil Jabbarov urged countries to build regional value chains in sectors where their economies complement each other. “We should increasingly produce together,” he said, pointing to companies and financial institutions already operating in one another’s markets. Moving freight across the Caspian requires countries to coordinate customs procedures and transport services. The World Bank’s new Trans-Caspian corridor study identifies fragmented governance and uneven policy implementation as problems that compound infrastructure bottlenecks. It estimates that at least $25 billion is needed through 2040...

CAMCA

Opinion: Central Asia’s Wider Future: The CAMCA Network Brings Regional Cooperation to Baku

Central Asia is helping shape a wider regional agenda, one that connects trade and investment with technology, education, and security. In Baku, the CAMCA Regional Forum is bringing together the people who can carry that agenda forward, with the CAMCA Network helping turn shared interests into opportunities for cooperation. Taking place on October 1–2 at the Fairmont Baku Flame Towers, the 2026 CAMCA Regional Forum convenes policymakers, business leaders, investors, educators, researchers, and entrepreneurs under the theme “The World and CAMCA: A Region at the Crossroads.” Its central question is how regional cooperation can expand economic opportunities and strengthen the capacity of countries and communities to shape their future. The CAMCA Network helps shape this conversation. As a co-founder and co-organizer of the forum, it connects professionals across Central Asia, Mongolia, the Caucasus, and Afghanistan. Its members contribute expertise, lead discussions, and bring the experience of working in the region into the program. They also give the forum continuity: relationships strengthened in Baku can support collaboration long after the gathering concludes. For Central Asia, that wider community matters. The five countries have distinct economic structures, resources, and international relationships. Cooperation must reflect those differences while identifying where shared effort can expand their choices. Connections with the Caucasus, Mongolia, and Afghanistan offer different opportunities and challenges, each deserving a place in the regional conversation. The CAMCA Regional Forum’s discussions of global shifts through 2030 and greater Central Asia–Caucasus convergence address this strategic landscape. “From C5 to a Wider Framework” asks how a broader geography of cooperation might serve the region’s interests. The underlying issue is the ability of countries to shape their own decisions: how working with neighbors can strengthen their options in a changing international environment. Economic connectivity provides a concrete test. Routes across the Caspian and through the Caucasus can help Central Asian countries reach additional markets and partners. Their value depends on dependable transport, workable procedures, and institutions able to coordinate across borders. Businesses need enough certainty to invest, plan, and build lasting commercial relationships. Today’s discussion on connecting CAMCA to the world brings these questions together. For Central Asia, the opportunity extends beyond moving goods through the region. Better connections can support production, logistics, services, and investment within it. The strategic objective is to create more value locally and give regional enterprises a stronger place in wider markets. The forum’s paired sessions on public policy and the private sector approach that objective from complementary directions. Governments influence the conditions under which companies operate. Businesses decide where to commit capital, develop products, and employ people. Bringing these perspectives together helps clarify which barriers require public action and where commercial initiative can move cooperation forward. Technology adds another dimension. The discussion of artificial intelligence asks where CAMCA fits in a rapidly changing global economy. The Digital Silk Road roundtable connects that question with financial services and innovation. For entrepreneurs in Central Asia, digital connections can open access to customers, payments, financing, and partners across borders. The investment and entrepreneurship...

CAMCA

From Eurasia to Greater Central Asia: A Region Reclaims Its Voice

At its most basic, Eurasia refers to the combined landmass of Europe and Asia, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Pacific in the east, and from the Arctic in the north to South and Southeast Asia in the south. Yet when defined in political or economic terms, the concept becomes more complex. This vast region—covering over 36% of the world’s surface area—includes influential Western institutions in the west, such as the European Union and the Council of Europe. In contrast, the east is shaped by post-Soviet and Sino-Russian groupings, including the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). In policy circles, the term "Eurasia" often refers more narrowly to the Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia) and Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Mongolia, and Afghanistan). Yet countries in these regions rarely lead the institutions that shape their future. Instead, most regional organizations are dominated by larger powers, primarily Russia and China. One partial exception is the Organization of Turkic States (OTS), though it excludes non-Turkic members such as Tajikistan, Georgia, and Armenia. Many external actors—beginning with Japan's "Central Asia plus Japan" initiative in 2001—have formed dialogue platforms with the five post-Soviet Central Asian republics, often referred to collectively as the "C5." More recently, Turkey, China, the EU, and others have created similar frameworks. While these engagements have value, they are usually shaped by external agendas. The fundamental issue remains: Central Asia lacks strong, self-directed institutions of its own. In response to this institutional vacuum, Professor S. Frederick Starr proposed in 2015 a broader regional framing: Greater Central Asia. He called for moving beyond the Soviet-era definition of Central Asia to include neighboring regions with shared historical, cultural, and strategic ties. He also noted a stark reality: Greater Central Asia is the only region of its kind without its own exclusive institutions—ones not directed by outsiders. That may be starting to change. A more distinct regional identity is emerging, with new frameworks for cooperation gradually taking shape. As countries in the region increasingly define their own development priorities and diversify partnerships beyond Moscow and Beijing, there is growing momentum for a more autonomous and inclusive model of regional integration. One of the clearest examples is CAMCA—an initiative that reflects the full geographic and political scope of Greater Central Asia. Over the past decade, the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute (CACI), founded by Professor Starr, has worked with the Rumsfeld Foundation to support a new generation of regional leaders through the CAMCA Fellowship Program. Originally conceived by alumni of a joint initiative between Starr and former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld more than fifteen years ago, the CAMCA Network has become one of the few institutions uniting the entire Greater Central Asia region. Each year, the fellowship culminates in a regional forum hosted by a different CAMCA country. The most recent—held last week in Ulaanbaatar—marked the 11th such gathering and the second time the event has been hosted by CAMCA...

Digitization

Digitizing Central Asia: Interview with Ainura Umaeva, Thought Leader in Communications and Media

This week The Times of Central Asia will be attending the CAMCA Regional Forum, which this year is being held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The CAMCA network is a collection of professionals and policymakers dedicated to developing Eurasia by sharing ideas, knowledge and inspiration; its name stands for Central Asia, Mongolia, the Caucasus and Afghanistan. Ahead of the Forum, The Times of Central Asia spoke with Ainura Umaeva, the Owner and CEO of TIDAM Communications Agency in Almaty -- and a leader in strategic communications and advisory -- about what the CAMCA program means for the Eurasian communications and digital industries, and what the future might hold for women doing business in Central Asia. TCA: What condition do you feel the digital and information spaces are currently in – in Kazakhstan, and elsewhere in the Eurasia region? AU: Kazakhstan has made remarkable progress in digitalizing public services and fintech. For many of us, it’s now second nature to access government or commercial services instantly through a smartphone. This level of convenience has become so embedded in our daily lives that we often take it for granted. However, when we look deeper, we notice a different reality. Despite this visible digital infrastructure, there’s a significant lack of digital literacy — especially in the private sector. Many businesses are still not leveraging the full potential of digital technologies, including AI, data analytics, or automation. While we appear digitally advanced on the surface, in practice the digital transformation often remains quite superficial. The real challenge now is to deepen that transformation — to build not only user-facing digital tools but also internal digital capacity and data culture. In what areas do you think CAMCA initiatives can help them improve? One of the greatest strengths of CAMCA is its ability to bridge regional fragmentation. Although the CAMCA region is often perceived by the outside world as a cohesive bloc, internally we remain deeply segmented — informationally, economically, and culturally. Many countries in the region lack awareness of one another’s realities, opportunities, and success stories. Several years ago, I worked with a client on a cross-regional study, and it became clear to me how little we actually know about our neighbors. This informational disconnect leads to missed opportunities for collaboration and shared growth. Initiatives like the CAMCA Forum are essential because they foster not just dialogue, but a sense of common regional identity. Paradoxically, it often takes an external initiative to help us better recognize how much we share. Being born and raised in Kazakhstan, with roots in the Caucasus, I constantly reflect on the contrast between the two regions. Despite its political and linguistic diversity, the Caucasus is often perceived — and perceives itself — as more cohesive than Central Asia. In our region, we are still discovering our collective identity. You’re speaking in a session dedicated to women’s networks. How will women’s authority in Eurasian business look in 10 years compared to now? In our work with the She Business Women Community — a...